This application relates to integrating enterprise support systems such as business support systems (BSSs) and operational support systems (OSSs). A BSS typically is a computer application with which users or other computer processes interact to support normal business functions. BSSs are used across a wide variety of industries including telecommunications, energy, pharmaceutical, government and the like. Examples of BSSs include customer relation management (CRM) applications, billing applications, financial applications, and provisioning applications. OSSs on the other hand relate to the framework of computer software and network architecture underlying the operation and execution of the BSSs. An application for monitoring and/or managing the state of a computer network is one example of an OSS.
Typically, a single enterprise (e.g., a telecommunications provider) will maintain several BSSs and OSSs (collectively, enterprise applications) that need to share information or otherwise interact. For example, a telecommunications provider may have a provisioning application for turning on/off switches to control its customers' access to telephone lines or other services, a billing application for automatically generating bills to be sent out to customers, a CRM application for maintaining a database of its customers and for dealing with service calls, complaints and the like, a financial application for handling general accounting functions, and a network management application for managing the underlying network that supports the various enterprise applications.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional method of integrating multiple enterprise applications. As shown therein, different applications communicate and/or exchange data with one another through specialized point-to-point interfaces (e.g., application program interfaces, or APIs) designed and implemented specifically for certain processes operating within the two applications being connected. Depending on the particular enterprise and the types and number of enterprise applications that it maintains, the number and complexity of point-to-point interfaces that must be designed, implemented and maintained can become significant. For example, the enterprise in FIG. 1 has eleven different applications that require at least 21 separate point-to-point interfaces between processes. In practice, the number of point-to-point interfaces required can greatly exceed the number of enterprise applications because any two applications may require multiple point-to-point interfaces between them—one for each pair of processes that need to communicate.
In general, implementing and maintaining such specialized point-to-point interfaces is time-consuming and expensive, not only because of the sheer number of point-to-point interfaces that may be required but also due to the complexity and disparity of the applications being connected. For example, different enterprise applications, especially those provided by different manufacturers, may use different programming and/or control languages, may rely on different data models, and generally present several different levels and types of incompatibilities.